Winter maintenance!

Looking to avoid paying BMW prices for their recommended coolant. Does any green stuff work well? Read somewhere that the BMW stuff is the 'onliest' one to use for our aluminum engines. Figured I'd ask the experts in this forum.

Thanks.

Bob

I have been using the green stuff for years as have many others I know and so far have not heard of any problems or had any myself.
I would say it's just the usual manufacturers scam to sell overpriced coolant.

i have been using demineralised water with my glycol concentrate mix ....to about 40 %

the reason for the demineralised is that there have been heaps of run off water round here for the last year or so ....the water authorities have been adding all sorts of chemicals to settle the dirt in the water not counting fluridisation and everything else ....i just feel that it would be more stable than the tap water available especially at the end of these old and cruddy pipes that feed our local community laced with iron and copper mix ..

Any reputable brand of Ethylene Glycol coolant is OK nowadays with so many aluminum block engines. Demineralized or distilled water is better than tap water, as there are no dissolved solids (hardness) in the water. If you have a condensing clothes dryer, the water from that is also fine - and cheap.

I haven't read much about coolant choices in the forum before, so I guess it isn't as big a deal as I thought it might be. A penny saved . . .

Never hurts to ask, though. Thanks for the quick replies!

Bob

I've been running aluminium V8's in 4x4s for a number of years and have suffered cracks etc as PO's have skimped on coolant. For the k bike I use pure green stuff.
88ke

This is another area as with fuel lines where I think the cost difference between genuine BMW approved product and a low cost alternative is small to me and the penalty price for product failure is large, so I view the cost of using the more expensive genuine product as a cheap insurance against failure. With antifreeze we only change it every two years and some do it only every three so the price difference premium is peanuts for me, YMMV as they say but that is my take on the question.
Regards,
K-BIKE

+1 K-bike. I use the BMW coolant instead of aftermarket as well for exactly the same reasons.

Pardon my ignorance...what is "YMMV"?

Your Mileage May Vary

Your Miles Might Varry..... Your experience might be different. ;-

Wow, how's that....double tap!

Hah, I was first!

Just as a matter of interest, the company i work for does maintenance for a large chemical company here in Brisbane.

I was down at their plant some time ago working on the bottling line for engine coolant. To my surprise the majority of brand name coolants came off the same line,same mixture.

Thought it might be of some interest, its surprising when you start to do research into who makes what for whom.

I always buy a reasonable quality concentrate anyway, and increase the ratio to about 50%. There isnt that much in our bikes anyway compared to a car.

Ethyl Glycol is an organic compound they are using it for a catch word that makes you think it is better and friendly to the enviroment.
Which is wrong. I would bet that people were suspicious of anything not green in colour so it got changed.
You are right that the two compounds don't mix. I don't know what the concequences are but they don't mix.

they are as k freak said immiscible, (like dot 3 and dot 4 brake fluid) the compound separates out of solution and coagulates , looks like vasolene and blocks up your thermostat and overflow outlet.

I use the same water that I make my beer from, out of a tank, off a galvanised roof.
I don't have any hair or teeth left but the beer is gooooood. (read that as cheap).
RT

RT wrote:I don't have any hair or teeth left

Then it`s must be you that throws the average age through the roof on this forum.

Inge K.

Inge K. wrote:
Then it`s must be you that throws the average age through the roof on this forum.

Inge K.

I dunno Inge Old RT holds his age well he doesn't look a day over 80.

I though he was 30 but had a really hard life...

I prefer to think of it all as having had way to much fun, booze and women.
There is really no need for you lot to insultme, I can do that all by myself.
I thank you.
RT (Bob)